Sat 11 Oct 2025, 15:00
On a beautiful sunny autumn afternoon, Eccles racked up nine tries in an emphatic performance at Gorton Street against Liverpool St Helens with Captain Chris Fortune scoring a Hat-Trick and wingers Will Parkinson and Gav Ackers-Johnson each bagging a brace, to help secure Sam Simpson’s men a 57-24 win and five valuable points to keep them in contention at the top of Counties 1.
The visitors kicked off to Eccles who flew out of the blocks attacking the Peel Green End. Their early dominance was rewarded with the first chance of the game in the opening minutes with sharp passing leading to Will Parkinson being forced into touch and denied at the corner flag. From the resulting line out LSH secured the ball but Loosehead Simpson stole possession inside the maul and spun away from the melee to force his way through to score. Parkinson added the extras with a terrific strike from out wide to put the hosts seven points up with seven minutes played.
07’ 7-0 TRY ECCLES (Simpson) CONV (W Parkinson).
Eccles sustained the ruthless intensity of their start, with the forwards hammering away, Long and Fortune directing the attack, centres Dodd and Candland carving through the LSH defensive line. With the pressure building inside the 22, slick passing almost put in Ackers-Johnson to score in the right corner, but with no advantage gained, the referee brought back play for a high tackle in front of the posts. A quick tap and the point of attack looked to be heading towards the left where Eccles had an overload of men waiting out wide but the skipper deceived everyone and seized his opportunity to slip through and score, close to the posts .
16’ 14-0 TRY ECCLES (Fortune) CONV (W Parkinson).
For the next 10 minutes LSH attempted to respond but Eccles’ work rate suppressed all efforts to break out, forcing errors and increasing frustrations and penalties for the visitors inside their 22. Eaton, Pears and Spooner made notable contributions in particular with line-out accuracy. Eccles turned up the heat and created two more clear chances to add to their tally in this period, the first a fast flowing move out to the left flank at 22' and the second at 26’ featuring an exciting line break right from the marauding Simpson who fired through the middle and offloaded to Russell in close support before the ball was moved through hands out to the right flank, where, in both cases, a less exuberant final pass to the flying wingmen would have resulted in scores.
This lack of composure at the critical moment would have a consequence. With half an hour played, Eccles were shaping to mount another attack, when a short pass from Coop out on the right wing was intercepted by the LSH #10 who carried the ball from the halfway line and with the aid of his clever deception raced away to score in the corner.
30’ 14-5. TRY LIVERPOOL ST HELENS
Eccles made a positive response to this set back, with some flowing coast to coast running rugby played at a fast pace, stretching the LSH defence who were straining to contain the threats inside their 22. At 36’ LSH had a man sent to the sin bin for the (herculean) offence of lifting Scott Pears above the horizontal as the lock was crashing through the line. From the resulting scrum in front of the posts, fullback Mercer almost cut through the lines, the attack was carried by Simpson and Fortune pinged the ball out to the wing but the pass was judged to be forward and the score in the corner denied. The game had become frantic and with the clock ticking down to the interval, Eccles took the opportunity to refocus their efforts and drive home their advantage in the scum, pushing LSH backwards over their goal line to regain possession and number-eight Longford gathered the ball and powered through to score in the corner to complete an entertaining first half.
39’ 19-5 TRY ECCLES (Longford).
HT 19-5
At the break Eccles introduced fresh legs, replacing the industrious Simpson, Long and Dodd, with Connor, Cullen and Matt Parkinson however, a poor restart prevented the intended instant impact and it took a few phases of play for Eccles to find their stride in the second half. Dynamic ball carrying from forwards Connor and Russell sparked the first attack and Eccles were instantly running the ball upfield, with Parkinson breaking on the left and offloading to his fullback inside who fired through the gap to score a fine try.
45’ 26-5 TRY ECCLES (Mercer) CONV (W Parkinson).
LSH were now back to 15 men but discipline continued to prevent the visitors from gaining a foothold in the game and for the next 10 minutes Eccles took full advantage, increasing their speed and intensity to play some wonderful expansive rugby, delivering two more tries in quick succession. The first initiated by drive from Ackers-Johnson up the right wing with the ball quickly recycled and passed across the field through the hands of Candland, Fortune, Mercer to be finished by Parkinson in the left corner; the second almost a mirror of this move this time with the ball flying in-field from the left wing at pace to the right flank, with the wingman showing his class, hitting a terrific line up the 13 channel to cut through the desperate tackles and score, to the delight of the home support.
53’ 26-5 TRY ECCLES (W Parkinson)
58’ 38-5 TRY ECCLES (Ackers-Johnson) CONV (W Parkinson).
At the restart Eccles were guilty of switching off and Liverpool St Helens were quick to react to their opportunity, breaking down the wing to pull a try back. Eccles failed to address their loss in focus and following the restart LSH once again counter attacked up the same wing and scored an identical try, this time adding the conversation with an accurate kick from out wide.
60’ 38-10 TRY LSH
64’ 38-17 TRY LSH. CONV.
In a matter of minutes the game had changed in personality, with both teams freely trading blows and the home team's tight grip appearing to loosen. Eccles needed leadership to reassert its authority and appeared to achieve this from the restart, with some big carries into the LSH 22. The ball was deftly chipped through behind the lines and collected by the captain who, using hips and legs belonging to someone else, swerved through the defenders to touch down behind the posts.
66’ 45-17 TRY ECCLES (Fortune) CONV (W Parkinson).
Dodd returned to the field to replace Coop. LSH responded to the set back with a well worked try scored in the corner and an accurate conversation from out wide but this was to be the last sign of a fight back for the visitors.
73’ 45-24 TRY LSH. CONV.
In the final minutes Eccles delivered the final fatal blows, increasing the tempo of play against the tiring LSH defence. Turning over the ball at a breakdown on the left, Longford carried possession across the pitch and once it reached Ackers-Johnson on the right there was no stopping the winger as he slipped through the tackles on the touchline to go in at the corner and scooter around to score his second of the game. The conversion missed but it did not matter. At the restart the Captain capped off the performance off with a final flourish, following up behind strong carries into the 22, to dot down behind posts for the last score of an entertaining game.
77’ 50- 24 TRY ECCLES (Ackers-Johnson).
80’ 57-24 TRY ECCLES (Fortune) CONV (W Parkinson).
FT 57-24
Eccles team: Sam Simpson, Ross Eaton, Jack Burdon, Martin Coop, Scott Pears, Nick Spooner (VC), Harvey Russell, Connor Longford; Sam Long, Chris Fortune (C); Gavin Ackers-Johnson, Harry Candland, Jason Dodd, Will Parkinson, Marcus Mercer. Replacements Rhys Connor, Tim Cullen, Matt Parkinson.
Eccles will no doubt want to address the brief loss of focus in the second half but otherwise will be pleased with their overall attacking threat and defensive discipline, securing the bonus-point win needed to keep them at the top of the division. It was to be an all round uplifting afternoon for the Eccles men with all three teams winning - Eccles 2XV beating Eagle 36-19 and Eccles 3XV beating Altrincham Kersal 2XV 10-55. Next Saturday Eccles 1XV will be looking to continue their winning run against Didsbury Toc H at Ford Lane, who are enjoying good form after their opening day defeat to Warrington.
